The Game, NLE Choppa, Maino and More – New Hip-Hop Projects

The new years is here, which also means new projects are arriving from artists who are ready to make the first mark on 2024. This week, a Compton, Calif. rapper locks in with the father of a Grammy-winning beat maker, a Memphis rhymer teams up with his DJ on a new project and more.

The Game Release Paisley Dreams With Big Hit

The Game coincided the ball dropping with the release of his new project Paisley Dreams, which is a joint project with Hit-Boy's father Big Hit. Released on Monday (Jan. 1), the offering came together almost by accident, according to the Compton, Calif. rapper.  "I pulled on @hitboy & @bighit 3 days ago to do 1 song… stayed a few hours & ended up doing a 9 song tape that night," Game recently shared on Instagram. "I’m not here to ask you to stream it or download it. I’m just a man, telling his fans a story about last night & the night before." The svelte release, which is executive produced by Hit-Boy, contains nine songs featuring Hit-Boy, Dome Kennedy and TeeFlii, and serves as Game's first release since Drillmatic: Heart vs. Mind, which dropped in August of 2022.

Read More: Here Are the Best Hip-Hop Projects of 2023

NLE Choppa and DJ Booker Connect on The Chosen Ones Album

In April 2023, NLE Choppa dropped Cottonwood 2, the sequel to his 2019 gold-certified EP, Cottonwood. Now, in 2024, Choppa is back with another project, this time in support of his touring partner, DJ Booker. The duo's The Chosen Ones EP features the Memphis rhymer rapping over beats curated by DJ Booker. The set's first single is the Pluto Beats and Yokarza-blessed head-nodder "Purge on Em." On the abrasive track, Choppa spits bullet-riddled rhymes at his opps who want to do harm to him.

"Thug to bone, been this way since the cradle/I'ma tote it to the grave and it's somethin' that I stand on/F**k a opp b***h screamin' Crip with my flag on/I'ma get your mans killed, have his n***a makin' sad songs," he warns on the song.

On a much lighter note, Choppa grabbed some of his family members to perform with him in his new music video for "Auntie Living Room," which appeared on his Cottonwood 2: Deluxe 2.0 project. In the visual below, the young rhymer is in the living room recording his verse when his real life aunt, Tracy Denise Smith, offers to assist with the hook, singing, "Children are crying, people are dying." The video segues into Choppa performing his song while hanging out in the hood with his friends as he shows off his stacks of cash and luxury Rolls Royce vehicle. The 21-year-old rapper even gets a fresh cut by the local barber while shooting his music video.

NLE Choppa is a man of the people in his Memphis hometown.

Read More: NLE Choppa Interview - Evolving, Controversy, Fatherhood

Maino Delivers K.O.B. 4 (Deluxe) for the New Year

Maino is kicking off 2024 on a music high note. The Brooklyn rhymer drops the K.O.B. 4 (Deluxe) project during the first week of the New Year. The collection boasts 17 tracks featuring guest appearances from Jim Jones, Fabolous, Dave East and U.K.'s grime rapper Giggs ("We Made It"). Cash Money Records rapper B.G., who was released from prison in September of 2023, joins Maino on "For My City" (New Orleans remix). In the song's accompanying video, which you can watch below, B.G. salutes his N.O. hometown while Maino honors his Brooklyn neighborhood as well as the late BK icon The Notorious B.I.G.

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See all the new hip-hop projects that dropped this week below.